"I did it… that's great…" Uchiha Sasuke whispered, relief softening his voice. "Now all that's left is Uchiha Itachi."
Sasuke's expression sharpened with excitement. In his mind, this time he would kill Shimura Danzo far earlier than in the original timeline.
But where Sasuke burned with vengeance, Uchiha Itachi fixated on something else entirely.
The Five Kage Summit.
The diary said the Five Kage were all occupied dealing with Sasuke.
Five Kage together. When had that last happened? Probably not since the era of the First Hokage.
For all five to gather now, just to go after Sasuke…
What in the world had Sasuke done?
Itachi's heart tightened. According to his plan, Sasuke was supposed to take his head, become a hero of Konoha, and use that glory to rebuild the Uchiha Clan.
But according to the diary, the future Sasuke not only failed to become a hero, he ended up a wanted criminal hunted by the Five Kage.
This was the exact opposite of everything Itachi had planned.
Where had things gone wrong?
He leaned in, tension growing.
"Will there be footage of Sasuke fighting Danzo?"
As if answering him, a new video appeared.
[Sunny Sasuke VS The Darkness of the Ninja World! Legendary scene: stabbing Susanoo with a kunai!]
[At this stage Sasuke is still in his Sunny Sasuke phase. Dogs passing by get hit with Amaterasu. The fastest-blind Mangekyo in history. The sky clears, the rain stops, and Uchiha Sasuke once again thinks he's unstoppable.]
When he reached that last line, Sasuke's face went bright red. He was still only twelve, still a kid trying to look cool, far from the arrogant avenger he'd become.
He had never understood why Kaede Kitahara called him Sunny Sasuke. Now he did.
The sky clears, the rain stops, and Uchiha Sasuke thinks he's invincible again.
It was teasing, but it stabbed straight through his pride.
And unlike the original timeline, Sasuke no longer went around loudly declaring that he would kill Uchiha Itachi. Back then, he didn't understand how terrifying Itachi truly was. Now, with Kaede's diary in hand, he understood painfully well.
The gap between himself and real elite jonin like Hatake Kakashi or Zabuza was enormous. And above elite jonin was the domain known as Kage Level.
Uchiha Itachi stood firmly in that realm.
Just imagining the distance between them made Sasuke feel small. He didn't dare talk about revenge anymore. Even if no one else knew, he himself felt embarrassed just thinking it.
So despite graduating at the top of his class, Sasuke had become unusually humble. Today he followed Kakashi on a simple mission. It felt pointless, not helping his growth at all.
But then he remembered Itachi once walked this exact path. That thought alone calmed him.
If Itachi endured it, how could he not?
He was his father's son. Why couldn't he endure the same things?
And after rewatching Kakashi's battle with Zabuza in the Land of Waves, the gap between himself and those like Kakashi became painfully clear. He didn't carry the subtle disdain he had in the original timeline.
Kakashi was nowhere near Orochimaru or Itachi, but for teaching the current Sasuke, he was more than enough.
Which only made him more embarrassed now that he understood the meaning of Sunny Sasuke.
Kakashi, reading along, also burst out laughing. At least until he remembered Kaede's teasing wasn't limited to Sasuke. Hatake 50/50 wasn't exactly flattering either.
But Itachi focused on a different part entirely.
Even a passing dog gets hit with Amaterasu.
Kakashi and Sasuke had no reaction. They didn't know what Amaterasu was. But Itachi did.
His Mangekyo Sharingan had two unique powers. One was Tsukuyomi.
The other was Amaterasu.
And Kaede's mockery—"the fastest-blind Mangekyo in history"—told him everything.
First came shock. Sasuke awakening the Mangekyo meant Itachi's plan was viable. Sasuke could someday take his eyes and achieve the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. Whether Itachi survived long enough for that didn't matter. The plan itself worked.
But then came surprise.
Sasuke's Mangekyo had Amaterasu too?
He wasn't aware of any siblings awakening identical Mangekyo abilities. But with so few Mangekyo users across history, and records scattered and lost, it wasn't impossible.
Amaterasu wasn't weak. It was one of the strongest physical attacks in existence. Once ignited, it burned until the target died, unless sealed or manually extinguished.
But then Itachi stiffened.
The fastest-blind Mangekyo.
That line revealed everything.
Mangekyo Sharingan would eventually go blind. Itachi had known that for years. Even with his careful restraint, his vision was deteriorating rapidly. Faces were blurring. Details fading. He had to focus intensely just to see, like an old man squinting through failing eyes.
If Sasuke truly used Amaterasu on anything that moved, losing his vision quickly was entirely plausible.
He needed to warn Sasuke. Somehow.
Either directly, or through another method, he had to get the message across: Mangekyo chakra wasn't renewable. Even with the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan as a backup plan, reckless overuse reflected a deeper issue.
The sky clears, the rain stops, and Uchiha Sasuke thinks he's invincible again.
Sasuke heard that line and burned with embarrassment.
But Itachi felt something else.
Sasuke's strength would surge too quickly, overwhelming his own mental stability. A sudden rise in power without grounding was dangerous.
Very dangerous.
This was not good news.